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The declaration comes amid severe workforce shortages in the region and across Italy. The mayor of a small town in southern Italy has forbidden residents from falling seriously ill. The ordinance from Belcastro Mayor Antonio Torchia instructs residents to “avoid contracting any disease and pathology that requires medical intervention,” and to not get into accidents or take risks that could endanger their health, reported.
Instead, they are advised to stay at home as much as possible, not leaving to travel or play sports. The tongue-in-cheek rule aims to raise attention to the remote area’s lack of healthcare access. There is no emergency care available overnight or on holidays, the healthcare clinic is frequently closed, and the nearest emergency room is about 45 kilometres away in Catanzaro, according to Torchia.
That’s a problem for Belcastro’s ageing population, given about half of the 1,200 residents are 65 or older. “This is not just a provocation,” Torchia told “The ordinance is a cry for help, a way to shine a spotlight on an unacceptable situation”. Belcastro is in the southern part of Calabria, one of the poorest regions in Italy.
There are about 1,700 general practitioners in Calabria for a population of nearly two million, according to the latest government data. The entire region is facing severe healthcare shortages, prompting one in five Calabria residents to seek medical treatment in other parts of Italy. Since 2022, the government has recruited hundreds of Cuban doctors to fill the gaps, but that another 2,500 doctors would be needed to ensure normal operations.
This is a broader problem for the country. Every year, an estimated leave Italy to work abroad, making it one of the European countries to opportunities elsewhere. Beyond healthcare access today, that could spell trouble for the future of small towns like Belcastro, Torchia warned.
“If we do not provide essential services, these towns, these villages, will die within ten years,” he said..
